24 hour crash course in sewing with dear Mom

While Mom was visiting for three glorious weeks she helped me with the children, she and I knit together, shopped together, and finally she helped me with my sewing.

That look on Lilly's face reflects the feelings all of my little family of four share after our visit with "Gramma". We feel so filled up with love from her kindness and affection. Now let me tell you more about Lilly's dress and my 24 hour crash sewing course!

Here is the pattern and the facing and dress all cut out.

Mom had to buy me more pins to make the little dress. I discovered that gathering is somewhat time consuming, not to mention pin consuming...

I was pleased as punch at how the gathering turned out though and all that labor was forgotten! Thank you Mom for teaching me this great skill with such wisdom and patience!

Now for the really scary part... the zipper! Gulp. I had never done one before. Mom explained it so well that it was quite easy! (Love using this recent mushroom pincushion gift from Kristin!)

I did it on the first try and it works too!

Like Lilly I was jumping for joy in learning so much. I made size three but as Mom rightly said, it will fit her properly when she is five!

If that wasn't enough, Mom kindly suggested she help me learn to sew a zipper into a pouch too! So we did that project immediately after finishing the dress.

You might recall this wonderful type of fabric I found at a flea market which has different prints on both sides? It is perfect for making a pouch without lining!

Well, Mom is making the long journey home as I write this. Some new fabric arrived in the mail today from this great shop and will be a nice distraction from the sadness of not seeing Mom again for an unknown number of months. Don't you love it when the fabric shop wraps your purchase up so prettily? I was also smiling over the extra fabrics and her really great prices. Do you see that these are the new Heather Bailey fabrics!?

Comments

[Joanna]

Thats such a beautiful dress, I keep thinking of making some clothes for my little one. Amazing shop on your last post. I can see why youl love it.

[Stephanie]

Darling dress but even cuter little girl! Your Mom sounds terrific. Oh I'm afraid of zippers...I WILL do it one day. I have been dying to get my hands on the new Heather Bailey fabric. It's gorgeous.

[Katherine]

That dress is beautiful, but all the pins in the gathering look a bit tricky! Mums are great for sewing tutorials, shame when they don't live round the corner.

[kelly]

hi, thank you for the visit. I have just spent about an hour going through your beautiful blog. I really do love your handmade goods, so pretty and unusual! I am an American expat too! Norway looks so beautiful. I particularly loved the photo of the view from the kids great grandmothers home, stunning! see you again soon, kelly

[abigail]

That mushroom pin cushion really is something else - I don't even have one at the moment so that's inspired me to get some!

[lucy]

Well, the perfection of the sewing on both the dress and the pouch are amazing. Your mom is such a great resource and inspiration. Lilly seems to love her pretty dress too and that's a bonus.

Fabrics are gorgeous. Nicely packaged too!
Cheers,

Lucy

[Jean C.]

Looks like mother/and daughter/and mother/and daughter are all happy! So nice that you had so much time to spend together.
The dress turned out so pretty. Great color for Lilly too! Yeah, you battled with the zipper and you won! Twice! Good for you... I'm like that with hidden zippers! Practice makes perfect. And really it does help!
Bet your mom had as much fun as you did!
hugs...

[Petra]

Ísn´t it wonderful with mothers! The little dress is lovely! / Petra

[eileen]

Wow.. you learned to gather and insert a zipper within 24 hours? That is very good! The dress is darling. I remember I always had to snug up the patterns a little bit when sewing for my little ones.. they often seemed too big. But nice thing is, they do grow into them.
Now you need to make another one!
Adorable pin cushion. :-)
p.s. I like your ideas of using orphan blocks to make bags and purses! THANKS

[cindy k]

such a cutie in a gorgeous dress, which means a lot more since you made it with gramma. i also really love the mushroom and thank you for the fabric shop link. i live in the us, but learned about if from you all the way in norway :).

[Rebecca]

Oh wow, you did such a good job, a zipper and everything, very impressive and what a beautiful model you have there.

[LeeAnn]

That fabric is gorgeous! And the zipper looks perfect. The first zipper pouch I ever sewed I think I opened and closed it a hundred times just because I was so proud of myself. Good job!

[Cathy]

well done on making such a beautiful dress and pouch. It all looks fantastic - glad you had such a wonderful visit with your mum!

[Jessica]

I'm seriously drooling over that mushroom pincushion right now...

[Lisa]

Love all the colorful photos. The dress is adorable and clearly worth all the time you spent pinning the gathers. Your zipper work is awesome too. I still struggle a bit with zippers. I must practice more.

Have a great week!

[Rachael Rabbit]

I am simply terrified of zips - yours looks perfect!

[Rachelle]

Thanks so much for dropping into my blog as now I've found yours which is fab. What a treasure your Mum is and well done on the dress. Its one of the reasons I am excited to be having a little girl this time so I can pass on these wonderful skills that my boys can't be doing with!!Rx
ps yummy dress....

[celia]

Oh God, you bought from Sew Love Fabrics in Etsy!!!! I can say it for the wonderful wrapping! I have received her order yesterday and I am still today amazed with the beautiful package and the great gift fabrics! I can see you got also the oh-so-nice beige flowers piece that I am loving so much,lol...
Will love to see your new creations with those fabrics!

[jenny]

What a gorgeous little frock. What a lot of pins! No wonder you needed to buy some more for the job! It's wonderful to be able to learn things from our mothers isn't it? Jen

[jellybelly*jellybrain]

Can your mum come and stay with me and show me how to put a zip in pleeeaaase!
All those pins!
How many times did you prick your fingers?!

[dana]

The dress looks great and so does your new fabric. I recently got some in the mail from the same seller! :)

[bu&bau]

Lilly is looking so happy with her beautiful new dress!

I've never seen so many pins pinned in only one piece!!!

And those new fabric look gorgeous. I'm going to check tha shop now...
Hugs**

[Joanna]

I am so glad you had such a wonderful time with your mom. I'd miss mine terribly if we were on the other side of the world from each other. :(

Lilly's dress is perfect! It's so cute. I've done lots of gathering but I've never used that many pins. This makes me think that I should try using that many pins and maybe my gathering will turn out more evenly.

[Erin K]

Your dress is lovely.

I read your post while holding my 3 year old son Stephen. Here is his commentary:
Who is that girl on the puter?
(she is the daughter of this lady, her mommy made her this dress)
Well she is a princess that's sure.
(I think so too)
Well, that dress sure looks nice on her.

haha! I totally agree of course~

[Jacqui from Mee a Bee]

That is so pretty!
My mum is coming to Japan next month for two whole months!! I am so excited. I really hope we make time to sew.

[Alice77]

What a wonderful fabrics and creations! My mother and grandma also a great sewer and knitter! Infact me too, when i meet them I learn something new from them. It is fun and interesting! I will meet them in few days so i hope we can organize to make something!
-Yuko

[therese]

hi! you left a comment on my blog but i couldn't find your email address anywhere. if you're interested in visiting a viking market, you should know that norway is full of them every summer! (in fact all of scandinavia is). there's one more in a couple of weeks, i can get back to you when i know exactly when and where. when it comes to plant dyeing, i am just a novice - i have two friends who are quite pro at it, and i'm learning. i love it!

[Merruli]

The gathering and zipper, both perfectly made. I will never have enough of patience to use that many pins, mostly I try to survive with as few as possible, and that often means some ripping and re-sewing.

[katie]

you got so much done! I love the dress! love it!

[Anja]

Look at Lily - so proud of her new dress! Lovely.
And that sure is a lot of pins :o) You really have a patience of a saint. And your mum too. My wish is to sew like you two some day. Till then I'll stick to easy and quick project which I make even more simple on the way :o)

Thank you for your sweet comment on my blog. We are both in the same shoes right now - hawing parents close for few weeks and now we miss them even more.

Hugs,

Anja

[Silverpebble]

What a beautiful little dress and very prettily modelled byt the owner. Beautiful beauitful fabrics - look forward to seeing the lovely ladies you cook up with those.

[Alexis]

Lovely dress, lovely girl, lovely Grandma!

I'm just learning to sew and you are inspiring me!

[Melanie]

How lovely that you had such lessons which you'll remember all your life and pass on yourself when the time comes. Lovely dress! Well done.

[therese]

å, jeg har et spørsmål også; hvordan unngår du toll på varer du bestiller fra etsy?? jeg har bestilt noe stoff, og venter i spenning på evt toll. er det noe med at det må være under 200 kr for å slippe, eller at det bare er noen bestemte varer som fortolles?? therese

[jacquie]

mom's are so great...you are a lucky woman...i wonder if she'd do a correspondence course...i could really use some zipper help.

[Chloe Mee]

What a fabulous dress!

[Jackie]

How lovely. I saved all my fabric offcuts from my youth to make little dresses for when I had a daughter...I had 2 sons. i made dressing gowns though..thats all.

[Kari]

I still recruit my mom whenever I have tricky sewing projects (like slipcovers-yikes). Something so nice about relying on someone else's expertise.

[bari]

beautiful everything, as usual!
But, when are we getting the zipper tutorial???

[Lisa]

Love Lily's sweet dress - the little gathers and zip are beautifully executed! Love the two toned fabric you used for the pouch. Hope your Mum made it home safely! We lived in Stavanger for a while when my husband was working there.

[cathleen]

Oh my, I love these photos. Pretty child, pretty dress, and pretty fabric. And I really do LOVE fabric! Please come over to my new blog and see my fabric stash...scroll down a bit. Also, I am so sorry you are sad about your mom leaving.

[The Chocolate Cat]

Aren't Mum's wonderful and sharing with their knowledge. The dress turned out wonderfully. How lovely you could spend some special time together, the memories will help pass the time until the next visit!

[SylvChezPlum]

The dress is so pretty, as always !

I've just nominated you for the Arte y Pico bloggy award.. See details on my blog..

[Gabriela Delworth]

Hello,

Lilly is such a cutie!

~ Gabriela ~

[sheree]

What a sweet dress for a sweet girl. You did your a great job! I am so happy you had some time with your mom. And look at all the great memories you all were able to create during her stay...that is what life is all about!

Hugs,
Sheree

[jessica]

I did see the new Heather Baily fabrics and I cannot wait for them to show up at the local quilt shop. I love the dress you made. My mother made my sister and I many variations of that very same dress (or at least a similar pattern) all through our childhood. We saved them all as we got older because they are simply the best! (and anything that a mama makes is better!)

[Julz]

Hi Emily; thank you for your lovely comment on my blog. I love lilly's dress - I so enjoyed sewing dresses for my girls when they were little - they are 14 and 11 now and the "made with love" clothes don't seem to have the same appeal as the "shop labels" LOL... my first visit to your blog, have added to bloglines so I can keep in touch. Your mum's visit sounds oh so lovely - such a treat to spend quality time. Have a lovely weekend. Hugs Jx

[The Homely Animal]

Such a beautiful worksmanship (and your little model) also such nice choices for fabric. I just love it all!

www.homelyanimal.blogspot.com

[HildeC]

Your collaboration with your mother really turned out great - the dress is beautiful :-)

[Gabriela Delworth]

Hello Emily,

Check my blog post tomorrow Sunday, there will be a special award awaiting for you to pick it up!

Have a great weekend!

~ Gabriela ~

[Gina]

The dress and pouch are beautiful. I loved your mushroom pin cushion too... gorgeous!

[Kerri Halligan]

Wow - that's a LOT of pins! There are other gathering options that don't requires quite that much metal. The finished dress is quite lovely! The is one of my favorite websites for getting the skinny on patterns before you sew. The big 3 patterns are often HUGE like that on little girl dresses especially.

http://sewing.patternreview.com/news